Page 154 of Falling for the Enemy

“You’re not Dad,” Logan amended, and it was possibly the greatest reassurance anyone could offer.

“Thanks.”

“Hey, what are brothers for?”

Soren inhaled and then exhaled slowly. “I need you on that board, Logan. The vote this week, it needs to pass. Without you and Greyson, there’s no guarantee we’ll have the backing I need, and I’ve worked for over a year making sure everything⁠—”

“You’ll have my vote. But then…”

Soren nodded, accepting his terms. “No matter what, you’ll always have an office there.”

“Thanks. Maybe one day I’ll see it.”

Just then, his phone buzzed, and he nearly dislocated his arm pulling it from his pocket so fast. “Thank fucking God,” he breathed.

“Is it Jocelyn?”

“Yeah.” He opened the text and the ground seemed to fall out from beneath him.

It never hurt so much to be right.

A picture came through with a whoosh. It was of him and Olivia Aldrich from the gala on Friday night.

“Everything okay?”

He couldn’t remember how to talk. Didn’t know what to say.

Tossing his phone on the counter, he turned his back on Logan, his hands balling into fists. Any chance of ever fixing things with Jocelyn was just shot to shit.

That was it.

It was over.

Not only had he let her down, she now knew he’d been at an event with Olivia.

“Soren, what the fuck? When was this taken?” Logan had helped himself to his phone.

“Friday,” he said through gritted teeth, frozen.

“You cheated on Jocelyn⁠—”

“No, I didn’t fucking cheat on her!” He twisted and looked Logan dead in the eye. “I would never cheat on her. I… She… It was Warren Aldrich’s event. Of course Olivia was there. She’s a fucking viper, who obviously set this whole thing up and somehow sent this picture to Jocelyn.”

“Why?”

“Because she has this delusional idea that she has some sort of fucking claim on me!”

“Hold on.” Logan frowned. “Aldrich. Is this the same Warren Aldrich on the board? The one you’ve been sending us emails about, with the shipping company.”

He was shocked his brother had read the emails. “Yes.”

“Soren, this family is fucking with your life, and you’re thinking about giving them a ten-year, multi-billion dollar contract? Dude, what the fuck are you thinking?”

“I’ve put months into this deal.”

“I don’t care. You love her. That means you protect her. Who gives a shit how many contacts the fucking Aldriches bring to the table or how deep their pockets go. This,” he flicked the phone in disgust, “is trash.”

He couldn’t believe Olivia would do this to him. She knew there was nothing between them.